As promised here is the first panel discussion review of what happened at the IAMAI Digital Marketing Conference today. 

The first panel was on ‘ANALOG VS. DIGITAL: WHERE TO SPEND MARKETING BUDGETS NOW, AND WHY‘

The moderator Manish Vij initiated the discussion around this and the panel tried to raise/answer the following questions:

• Who is Spending on Digital? - The panelists noted that Last 1-1.5 years has seen an increase in spending from sectors like FMCG , Consumer durable though BFSI still remains a strong sector remains a strong sector. (The recent IAMAI reports confirm this fact)

• Who has Stopped Spending? - There has been a drop in travel spend due to fuel price hike, Also it was primarily VC money that OTAs were spending.

• Who willl be Spending Soon? - In India automotive sector is a sluggish compared to other countries but it should see an increase in spending on digital in the next few years.

• Who are the highest Spenders? - Currently Urban Youth brands have a disproportionately high spend. (Not surprising looking at the current demographics of the internet audience.)

• Who All Can be Spent On? -  The panelists felt digital will be a key medium to target the employees in BPO sector working from 8pm to 5am as traditional media cannot reach them

• Can We Compare Spend and Impact? - There was a concern on how cross media comparison is lacking in the industry i.e. say something like pixel by pixel how much better one can digital be better than analog i.e. a fair TV vs Web comparison of impact/cost metric.

• Spending On Technology/Access Vs Creativity? - There was a feeling among the panel that the Digital Agencies of today were trying to sell technology or access but not the value that it can create (creative value) given the fact that digital has an oppurtunity to get 15-20 minutes of uninterrupted time of consumer if done well. 

• Should We Let Go Of Control? - Marketers should be ready to relinquish control of brand ownership to consumers. Perhaps this resistance is slowing the spend on digital media.

• Digital Media Spend.. Just An Experiment? - Digital media budgets are more of experimentation budgets rather than being a core part of brand building in India.

• High Income + High Spenders are Online? - Although India has just 40 million as internet users, 80% of these  represent the top of the pyramid and are decision makers and and have higer disposable incomes.

• Wrong Measurement For Wrong Purpose? - Availability of data and sometimes wrong measures for a particular campaign kills the agency. For example clickthrough rate is bad measure for brand building campaign in India.

• Time to Go Back To CPM Days? -  Cost per impression should become a key metric. 1 impression thousand viewers or thousand impressions on one viewer? Is the question? China has CPD - Cost per Day as key metric.

• Digital A Complementary Medium?  - Role of online should be complementary to analog not analog vs digital. It should be a part of the entire strategy not push offline creatives onto online format.

• No TAM No Money? - Lack of independent statistics like TAM IRS which are affecting online credibility. ComScore is filling the gap for the time being.

One of the audience members who belonged to the Virgin Mobile team said that as a roadmap they plan to more towards banner ads and widgets in promoting their brand building hinting at brighter days for branding oriented advertising in the digital space.

 

Stay tuned for the posts on other panels..

(We would like to thank Deva our guest blogger in bangalore for the coverage)

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